Still, a little more than a foot more and it would have broken the all-time record of 22.9 feet recorded on Sept. 30, 2011, according to National Weather Service figures.

Despite not attaining the record for highest wave, forecasters said the roiled lake managed to break the record for longest sustained waves of 18-feet or more.

Between 5 a.m. and 2 p.m. Oct. 30, the South Buoy recorded wave heights at that level, registering 10 consecutive hours.

The highest sustained wind at the buoy occurred during that period, coming in at 56 mph at 9:50 a.m., forecasters said.

"This is a new record for most number of consecutive hourly observations with waves 18 feet or greater," the weather service said in a storm report.

That bests the previous sustained record from Nov. 10 to Nov. 11, 1998, when seven consecutive hours of waves 18 feet or greater occurred.

Three more hours of 18-foot waves were recorded elsewhere during the day, bringing the hourly total to 13, forecasters said.

"Prior to Oct. 30, there had only been 15 hourly observations with waves heights of 18 feet or higher on record," forecasters said in the report, "which really speaks to how remarkable the waves were with this storm."

To be sure, it is possible larger waves have occurred on the lake that were not recorded by the South Mid-Lake Buoy.

"The buoy is only deployed seasonally, typically from early spring through late fall," forecasters said.

"It is certainly possible that larger waves could have occurred on Lake Michigan during the winter, when the buoy was not deployed," the report continues, "so these values represent the highest values on record."